In The Arms Of Angels
by Xtin2000
Summary: A mission gone wrong leaves Mac in serious condition. It is up to Pete to keep him alive while he is rushed to the hospital.


It was another mission gone wrong. Mac contemplated the finer points of fate as he was beaten up by his oponent without having much of an idea how to get out of this pickle. They knew he had been spying on their drug cartel for weeks now. The only reason he's still alive is because he pissed off one of the main tycoons in the organisation who needed a punching bag for some over-due stress relieve.

The rescue party came in form of a very stealthy and well thought through plan by the federal police department. They snipered the guy who was beating me up and within the same moment all other goons had a gun pointed to their head, got handcuffed and had their rights spat at them in a very unfriendly manner.

Saved again, who would have thought, and I was sure I'd meet the maker this time around. Right before my tormentor was sent west he threw me a blow to the head that darkend my vision and sent me spinning to the ground without any resistance. I was ready to just kick it myself. The pain in my somach was only exceeded with the pain from the laceration on my neck and the concussion. I knew something around me was going down, as I realized my attacker suddenly stoped with his ministrations. Yet I was bruised enough not to care, only happy I could finally give in to the comforting darkness that was intruding into my mind. _Let it be over, please let it be over._

My thoughts betrayed my usual bravado and I felt that if I were confronted with a choice right now to fight or surrender, my choice would undoubtably be the latter.

I feel comforable letting go, I feel like I lost all streangth that was ever laid into my cradle and I realized that I didn't care. All I cared about is, that the pain receeds and I can fade out of consciousness maybe forever. _Let it be over, please let it be over._

In that moment, right before the darkness was ready to swallow me up and I was ready to delve deep into its bossom, I heard an all to familiar voice.

"Mac! Mac, good Lord, Mac are you with me?!" It was Pete, and by the sound of it he was frantic. More than that, he was borderline histerical. I felt his ever so gentle touch on my neck and cheek. It hurt even though it was obvious he was trying his best not to aggrivate my pain. Despite the pain though Pete's touch felt good to my soul. It ment I was safe, finally, and that I could rest.

"I need a medice over here!" Pete's still borderline histerical voice rung in my ears and would have made me wince, had I any strenght left in my muscles. _Don't they understand, that all I want is to sleep?_ All I really wanted is to just black out and drift away.

"Stay with me Mac, I know you're still in there and I need you to just stick around until they check you out ok?" Pete's voice was directed to me and became much softer than before and was filled with a lot of love and caring. Now how can I refuse a request like that from Pete? It took all the effort I had in me to open my eyes and look at him. The comparativly dim light of the warehouse almost blinded my vision and sent a wave of pain through my optic nerves. This time I really winced. But it was all the sign Pete needed.

"Oh God, Mac, you're awake, thank heaven! Lay still, you will be fine, I promise. You've been through a lot, I'm so glad we found you, I was ready to give up hope you know. Don't ever do something like that again without backup. It almost went terribly wrong! But let's forget about that for now. You are alive, and that is the best news I've ever gotten!"

At this point a medic showed up and started checking me out. Thankfully Pete didn't leave my side, even though he seemed to be in the way to the EMT. I don't think I could have delt with this whole situation if Pete had left me even for a second. With the slight emergence of my consciousness closer into the present moment came the awareness of all the different sources of pain in my body. It made me hiss and wince even more and at some point, when one of the EMT's (apparently serveral decided to work on me all at once) probed my ribcage and I cried out in pain. My strength returned a little, and with it my anoyance of the inflicted pain I'm receiving.

"Please be careful, don't you realize that he has just received a terrible beating!" Pete let his irritation at the paramedic be known. I mentally thanked Pete very deeply for speaking up for me when I couldn't. The medic proceded his checking of my vitals with a lighter touch, thank God, and answered "Sorry sir, I was just trying to asess the situation. Looks like we have a few broken ribs here and quite positivly internal bleeding. I'd say liver trauma and a punctured lung are also a serious posibility not to mention a concussion. It seems some of these laceration are a few hours old, so I would say some of these wonds were inflicted a while ago. Is this true sir?"

I groned as a response to this, blinking my eyes once. Pete must have gotten the message because he answered for me. "Yes, that's ture. What happened Mac? What else did these guys put you through?" The pain in his voice was very audible and it tore at my heart. It seemed like he was close to tears. If there had been a way for me to answer, I would have, but my voice just didn't want to cooperate. Instead I caughed violently. Instantly I felt a hand on the back of my head and I heared Pete's soft, soothing voice in my ear with the ever present strong emotions in it, trying to calm me down. "Ssshhhh, please Mac, don't talk alright. You've been through a severe trauma, and your lungs might be punktured. It's alright, you don't have to tell us anything right now, sorry I asked, you can tell me later. Right now, let's just try and get you fixed up alright? Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, I'll be right here with you until you are out of the woods alright? Don't worry, I'll make sure they take good care of you, just relax, you wont be alone, I promise."

I all my life I wouldn't be able to say exactly how much these words really ment to me. It was like a healing light shone from within my soul as I heared these words and I felt safe and protected. Friends like Pete are few and far between. My breathing evened out and I relaxed, just like Pete ordered. I knew everything would be fine, because he was watching my back. There was no anxiety left in me, even after the EMT's assesment of me was finished and I was hoisted up onto a gurney and wheeled into an ambulance.

In the distance I heared some police officer trying to ask Pete some questions. Being the one who was in charge of this operation and the head of the Phoenix Foundation, his statement was extremely vital to the evaluation of the situation. Pete, however waved off all questions for later, stateing something like "send it to my office" and "please save it for later, I'm staying with my operative, no out of the question, I wont leave him under any circumstances."

After they hauled the gurney into the ambulance, I heared Pete climb in and sit on the bench facing me. I was supposed to stay awake is what the medics said and I felt that I couldn't care less about that. One of them mumbled 'chance of coma' and that to me sounded like a day at the beach. Out-cold-for-God-knows-how-long was the best prospect I could think of at that time. But then Pete's positively tear-stained voice came back into the picture and my attitude change completely. "please Mac, just stay with me, we need you to just stay awake for a while longer, please, I can't loose you Mac, I need you to fight and stay awake, can you do that? I have no idea what any of us did without you Mac, we need you, I need you. Please Mac, I know you would love to just drift away right now, but you must stay conscious at all costs. I can only imagine in what kind of pain you must be in right now Mac, and by God I wish I could take at least some of that away from you, God know's you don't deserve this, but right now all I can do is try and keep you awake. You know Mac, you are more than a friend, you are like family to me. I can't believe you just dropped under the radar and went after these guys without back-up. Why would you do that Mac? Sometimes I have this dreading feeling that you don't value your life at all. I mean sure, it was a sesitive mission and you didn't want to tip them off that they are being followed and you gave us a signal just in time to save you and bust the whole operation, but Mac, at what price? Man just look at you! There is no way in hell you can ever make a bargain like that!"

Pete rambled on, partly pleading with me to stay conscious, partly telling me off for being so reckless. In truth what really kept me to stay awake and listen to him was less the content of what he said, but the passion he said it with. Like it was tearing his heart out and he really ment it all. Like he was truly at a loss when confronted with what to do if I kick the bucket. Like he honestly and truly cared about me. I couldn't let this man down when he was so inssistant that I had to stay awake under any circumstances. So I gave it my all until we reached the hospital and I was rushed into a ICU. Pete ran along, his comforting presence turely never leaving my side. Finally, after what seemed like a life time I was cleared to rest. There was no immediate danger of me drifting into a coma. As if on cue, I went out like a light safe in the knowledge that Pete was there and everything was going to be just fine.


End file.
